Cristiano Ronaldo played the full 90 minutes but could not find the net as Portugal were held to a 1-1 draw by DR Congo in Houston on Wednesday, a result that stood in contrast to a string of standout performances by his peers the day before.
According to BBC Sport, Kylian Mbappe scored twice against Senegal on Tuesday to become France's all-time leading scorer. Erling Haaland marked his World Cup debut with two goals in Norway's win over Iraq. Lionel Messi went one better, netting a hat-trick for Argentina against Algeria to draw level with Germany's Miroslav Klose as the joint-leading scorer in World Cup finals history.
Portugal took a sixth-minute lead when Pedro Neto's left-wing cross was headed in by Paris St-Germain's Joao Neves. Newcastle forward Yoane Wissa nodded in a deserved equalizer for DR Congo just before halftime. Despite controlling 75% of possession, Portugal managed only seven attempts on goal. Just one was on target.
Ronaldo, who plays for Al-Nassr and is closing in on 1,000 career goals for club and country, had two chances in quick succession midway through the second half. Half-time substitute Francisco Conceicao twice cut the ball back from the right. The first was played slightly behind Ronaldo, who sent a tame effort past the near post. The second arrived in a better position, but pressure from the DR Congo defense caused his finish to fly wide.
Manager Roberto Martinez did not substitute the 41-year-old, who has 229 caps and 143 international goals. That decision drew sharp criticism from ex-Premier League striker Chris Sutton, commentating for BBC Radio 5 Live. When striker Goncalo Ramos replaced midfielder Vitinha in the 83rd minute, Sutton said: "That's embarrassing from Martinez. It might work but are we all watching a different game? He's scared to take him off. He's not the manager. [Ronaldo] may end up scoring the winner but the game has passed him by today."
Before kickoff, former England captain Wayne Rooney said on BBC One he expected Ronaldo to be motivated by what his rivals had done the previous day. "That's how he's pushed himself and his mentality is that everything is a challenge for him," Rooney said. "Over the years, him and Messi have pushed each other to get to these levels. He wants to be the best and that's not in a bad way. He'll want to go out there and score two or three tonight to show he's still at that level."
It did not go that way. Ronaldo has now gone 10 consecutive games without a World Cup goal since scoring in the group stage in 2022. His opportunity to become the first man to score in six different World Cup tournaments remains alive, but he will need to do it later in the group stage.
